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Post by mrdanner on Jul 7, 2024 10:10:24 GMT -8
I'm planning a trip to RMNP in a couple weeks, mid-July, spending 5 nights at Glacier Basin. I want to explore and do all the normal stuff, but I also want to spend some time in the middle of the night trying to do some astrophotography, specifically the Milky Way. Yeah, my timing is bad with the full moon, but if I get out there at 3:30am, the moon will have set and the MW will be pointing nearly straight up ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) Anyhow, my question is... I know there are bears around there, but do they tend to be active at all in the middle of the night? I'm not worried about them during the day (cautious, but not concerned), but I wonder if I should be concerned in the middle of the night. I will likely be around Sprague Lake, since it has great views southwest and is close to my campsite at Glacier Basin. I can also go to some of the overlooks along Trail Ridge Rd, but Sprague Lake is so close and the lake in the foreground could be cool.
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Post by trinity on Jul 7, 2024 11:05:26 GMT -8
What is your specific concern? Personal safety? Food protection? Bears tend to be diurnal, but they can definitely be active at night. But they shouldn't pose any safety threat to you. And food needs to be secure in a hard-sided container day and night.
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Post by mrdanner on Jul 7, 2024 12:14:56 GMT -8
Specific concern is personal safety. I won't have any food with me at all. Thank you for your comment!
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Post by cweston on Jul 7, 2024 12:55:55 GMT -8
What trinity said... I never carry bear spray in black bear country, but if it would help your peace of mind, you could carry it. All of my nighttime black bear encounters have consisted of bears harmlessly passing through my camp in the earlier hours of the night: say, between 11:00 pm and 1:00 am. So I'm inclined to believe that bear activity is lower at 3:30 am.
Edit: all that said, bear encounters are MUCH more common in National Parks than in areas administered by USFS, BLM, State agencies, etc.
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Post by trinity on Jul 7, 2024 18:18:08 GMT -8
I never carry bear spray in black bear country, but if it would help your peace of mind, you could carry it. Same here. Whereas my wife won't go out into any bear habitat without a can of bear spray. In grizzly country she takes 2 cans. We all have our own risk tolerance level. bear encounters are MUCH more common in National Parks than in areas administered by USFS, BLM, State agencies, etc. Definitely. Not only do there seem to be more of them, but they are also more habituated, and know to associate food with human activity.
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Post by absarokanaut on Jul 8, 2024 7:07:16 GMT -8
The most dangerous part of almost every hike is almost always... driving to the trailhead. Hiking in the dark would likely also present a far greater statistical threat than bears. That said I'd inquire with the rangers about recent bear activity in the area and share your plans.
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Westy
Trail Wise!
Diagnosed w/Post-Trail Transition Syndrome
Posts: 2,000
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Post by Westy on Jul 8, 2024 7:50:11 GMT -8
In RMNP, hard sided commercially made carry in/carry out bear-resistant food storage canister are mandatory. There is no dispersed camping, you must stay at designated campsites. Forget the bear spray, that's for grizzly country and best to procure two, one for practice and one for the field. Practice training your quickdraw and Z pattern spray pattern including spraying into the wind is a good idea. Bears do bear stuff. Usually, black bears will run, it's in their historical evolutionary DNA. I had a cinnamon (black) bear encounter a week or so ago. I spoke "Good Morning Mr. Cinnamon Bear!" It bolted! If you have a concern, bring an air horn. Try it at home first, freaking super loud. www.rei.com/product/225100/frontiersman-bear-horn?msockid=33a5147a4d1e66fa118107864cf6678a
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Post by cweston on Jul 8, 2024 7:59:31 GMT -8
FWIW, I'd be pretty unhappy if someone camped near me (we're talking designated NP backcountry site here) used an airhorn at 3:30 in the morning. That would serve as an excellent reminder of why I don't usually BP in NPs ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png)
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swiftdream
Trail Wise!
the Great Southwest Unbound
Posts: 655
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Post by swiftdream on Jul 8, 2024 13:54:41 GMT -8
While the probability is low a 16 year old girl sustained bites and scratches from a black bear in the mountains we roam back in 1996 at night in her tent. She screamed and the adults made noise and one fired a shot into the ground but the bear persisted until it was shot. This was not in the Park but was in a campground.
48 years ago on top of another southern Arizona mountain a friend and I had just finished backpacking in and set up camp in the dark, I’d just zipped up my tent and was going to go to my friends area when a black bear walked out of the darkness on two legs right up to me close enough that I could have reached out and touched it had I been so inclined. I let out a rebel yell and we both pounded it with softball sized rocks and nobody ended up getting chewed on. Two years or so ago we were viscously attacked in a canyon near where we live as we sat back drinking our tea on a fine wilderness morning. The bear sort of blundered into us unaware raised up its full little yearling height of about 3’ at about 30’ distance, took a long look and lit out for the territories like its ass was on fire. Thankfully no mama bear in sight. The only regret was it happened too fast to obtain a photo. This was again USFS land.
Every black bear we have ever seen over the decades save that upright walking bear all ran off just like that yearling but every other bear was a good distance from us. Because of that one exceedingly strange bear of 48 years old walking up like that on two feet I always take caution when coming across bear scat or tracks but it’s still a bit of a thrill to see one. The few times we have camped and backpacked in Colorado we’ve never even seen one. Same with the rest of the country and Canada. The main reason we see them here in the amount of time we spend outdoors here. We have hiked at night a bunch. If you follow the advice about food from those above you will have extremely low probability of any altercation.
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Post by mrdanner on Jul 8, 2024 14:34:12 GMT -8
Thank you everyone for your comments!
A bit of an unrelated question, if anyone is inclined to answer: I have never camped in a public campground like Glacier Basin in black bear country, but I'm sure people cook meat and food that smells very good to a bear... any issues with cooking smelly food in a crowded campground?
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Post by marmotstew on Jul 9, 2024 9:07:41 GMT -8
There will plenty of smelly food being cooked in Glacier Basin. But the generators and other shenanigans will scare the bears away. I car camped a couple weeks ago in a more remote area, cooked a ribeye over the fire. Yummy. No bears showed up. Only bear I’ve seen in Colorado was on the side of the road. I thought a herd of elk were going to trample me in my tent one morning in the backcountry.
Yeah what the guy above said, driving to your destination is way more dangerous. Unless you’re on I70 then you’ll be going 10 MPH.
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